In his recent blog (Unleash the Promise of Cloud), Enrico Fuiano reports how a Cisco Intel study clearly indicates that Line of Business (LoB) leaders have been playing a more important role in driving requirements for IT solutions and services. Amongst the reasons driving this shift, Enrico pointed to the “shadow IT” initiatives.

Robert Dimicco, Cisco Senior Director , Global leader and founder of Cisco’s Cloud Consumption and Broker Services Practice tells a similar story , as he recalls a recent conversation with a CIO “My CFO and CEO just asked me if I knew how many of our users were accessing cloud services. They asked me if I knew how much we were spending or if there were any risks.” He said, “Bob I don’t know the answers, and I don’t have a plan.”

In his blog, “Beyond Data Security ..Five Biggest Risks of Shadow Cloud IT Services “ Bob shares that “In working with our customers, we have found that there are typically 5-10 times more cloud services being used than are known by IT.” This challenging trend, called Shadow-IT is not without any risk . In fact , Bob describes the 5 major risks of Shadow IT which are

Savvy LOB leaders would likely counter that you're missing a key point in your assessment of this issue -- what happens if you *don't* have a grassroots shadow IT movement at your company? Can you afford to wait indefinitely for the business technology that your peer group takes for granted?
My point: realize that when LOB executives endorse bypassing the traditional IT organization it's an reactive act of desperation, not an proactive act of rebellion. If legacy IT organizations could better meet the business agility and competitiveness needs of their internal stakeholders, then this work-around would be a moot point.

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